Punch will change its delivery service ahead of its proposed takeover by Heineken and Patron Capital, following current distributor Carlsberg’s announcement to withdraw its UK delivery service.

The 1,900 pubs set to be sold to Heineken in a £403m deal will be serviced by Heineken’s Star Pubs & Bars distributor KNDL, as first revealed by The Morning Advertiser’​s sister title MCA​​.

Marston’s will serve the remaining 1,355 pubs, set to be bought by Patron Capital.

There were clear benefits to both of the deals, said Punch chief executive Duncan Garrood, who added the deal with KNDL would “provide a smooth transition for the set of pubs that will transfer when the sale of Punch is finalised”.

‘Great experience of pubs’​

Garrood added: “It is especially pleasing to be able to partner with Marston’s, a Midlands-based UK business with great experience of pubs, to supply the Punch product."

“We now progress to changing over our supply arrangements from Carlsberg to Marston’s and KNDL in an efficiently managed process to provide our publicans with the very best service.”

The announcement came on the same day Marston’s revealed half-year beer sales up 2% and average profits, per pub, up 3%.

Marston’s chief executive Ralph Findlay said: “Marston's has been transformed over the past 10 years by the consistent implementation of our established strategy.”

Charles Wells agreement​

He added: “Marston’s is delighted to have reached this agreement with Charles Wells and is absolutely committed to the future of brewing in Bedford.

“This agreement offers us opportunities to extend our trading area into new areas.

“The acquisition of the Charles Wells brewing business builds on Marston’s established brewing prowess and is a further step in our objective to develop the leading premium beer business in the UK market, something that Bedford’s Eagle Brewery will play an important part in.”

Charles Wells chief executive Justin Phillimore said: “After a detailed review of our strategy, we had decided to rebalance the company more towards retail investment and that meant finding a partner we could work with for the future.”